The Two Mockingjays
by Marcus S. Lazarus
Summary: In the aftermath of the Second Rebellion, two figures talk about their similar roles


Disclaimer: I own nothing; you know the drill

Feedback: Feel free

AN: Just a quick one-shot I was inspired to write to account for a publicity photo that was recently released; when you look at one photograph that's a close-up of Capaldi's hand, he's shown wearing a ring that seemed to have a rather familiar logo on it, which left me wondering how the Doctor might acquire such a ring…

The Two Mockingjays

"So… you're leaving?" the young woman- barely older than a girl- said, looking curiously at the older man in black standing before her, a blue box with a half-open door behind them.

"It's what I do," the older man replied, smiling at her. "It's a big wide universe out there, filled with things to see and do; I just… I don't like to stay put when I can still _see _everything, you know?"

"I… suppose," the young woman replied, staring up at the sky with a wistful, contemplative expression, before she sighed and looked back at the city spread out behind them. "But there's so much to do _here_…"

"And that's why you're here," the old man said, smiling at her in understanding. "Whatever else happened, you should be there to see what _you _have accomplished; I've never been happier to arrive somewhere where they don't need me."

"Yes, Clara mentioned that you seem to be… needed… most of the time you show up," the girl said, smiling at him for a moment before she became more solemn. "It's just… it's going to be so hard…"

"And you all need to learn to stand on your own," the old man said reassuringly. "Letting someone else do all the work for you is what led to the Capitol rising to power in the first place; establishing yourselves without the Capitol as a central coordinator will be hard, but nothing worth doing is ever easy."

Sighing as she thought about what her strange new friend had just told her, the girl reached into her pocket and pulled out a gold ring with the image of a bird inside a circle on top of it, placing the ring in the old man's hand.

"What is this?" he asked, looking curiously between the ring and the girl.

"Just a little something to remember me by," the girl said, smiling at him in a slightly hesitant manner. "After all… from what Clara's told me… we're both our peoples' Mockingjays, aren't we?"

"Symbols of freedom that survived when nobody expected them to…" the old man replied, looking at the ring in a thoughtful manner before he smiled and slid it on the ring finger of his left hand. "Thank you, Katniss."

"Thank you, Doctor," Katniss replied, smiling back at him. "If you hadn't been here…"

"I didn't do much; you already had Snow on the ropes-" the Doctor began.

"You saved Prim," Katniss interjected firmly. "That's the most anyone could have done for me."

As the young woman who had been the rebellion's Mockingjay gave the last Time Lord a hug, the Doctor reflected that it was actually nice to be reminded that it wasn't always about saving the world.

Sometimes, the world could be trusted to save itself; all that anyone could do was try and ensure that a few of the minor details worked out as best they could.

"Thank you again," he said, holding up the hand with the ring on it by way of explanation before he turned back towards the TARDIS. "Have a good life."

"I will," Katniss called after her mysterious friend as he closed the door of the TARDIS behind him, the sound that had heralded Prim's salvation filling the air once again as the blue box faded from view.

If that ship had appeared anywhere else, and if it had been working properly (Clara had mentioned during one of their conversations that the ship normally avoided appearing where someone was already)…

Katniss shied away from the thought; the image of those bombs striking the rest of the medical team was horrible enough on its own, she didn't need to think about Prim being among the bodies.

The Doctor and Clara had arrived in Panem in the last days of the rebellion, and their strange blue box had 'materialised' around Prim to protect her; even if they had done nothing more significant after that, it was more than Katniss could have ever hoped for when she saw the bombs falling.

Wishing her new friends well in their travels, Katniss turned around to walk back into the Capitol; as the Doctor had so accurately pointed out, there was still work to be done.

* * *

AN 2: Hope you liked it; I might bulk this out a bit more once we have a better idea of what the Twelfth Doctor's actually like as a Doctor- loud and arrogant, bohemian eccentric, rough-around-the-edges Northerner, distinguished gentleman with a tragic history, etc.- but for the moment I was trying for a generically Doctor-esque manner (Consider this set provisionally in the early days when the new Doctor's still trying to define himself)


End file.
